As a pioneer of the circular economy in industrial packaging, Schütz has been setting standards for the conservation of natural resources for decades.

As a pioneer of the circular economy in industrial packaging, Schütz has been setting standards for the conservation of natural resources for decades by saving, reusing and recycling materials and components. The company’s plastic drums offer the highest quality, safety and performance, while providing low operating weight.

In the new versions of Schütz Green Layer, the ecological balance of both types of packaging has been taken to a new level. In the multilayer extrusion process, IBC inner bottles and drum bodies are produced from 40% high-quality recycled plastic. This material is generated by Schütz through its worldwide collection and reconditioning program; Another key feature is that the Green Layer Series IBCs are also UN approved.

Ecological packaging as an integral concept

Multiple use and recycling, the two factors at the heart of the circular economy, have always been a central concept of Schütz IBCs. The entire life cycle of packaging is aimed at ensuring maximum respect for the environment. During reconditioning as part of the Schütz Ticket Service, the internal bottles of the collected IBCs are removed from the steel grid and treated in a complex recycling process during which they are ground, cleaned and finally re-granulated.

Special degassing extruders guarantee homogeneous quality and low odor. The company uses HDPE recycling obtained in a closed loop: 100% goes back to in-house production of plastic packaging components, including plastic pallets and corner protectors.

Additional CO2 savings: more than 8 kg per IBC

For these particular containers, high quality recycled material is also used for the production of the inner bottle. The IBC container with the innovative Green Layer design contains only 40% recycled material. This corresponds to an additional CO2 savings of at least eight kilograms per IBC. The recycled HDPE is extruded only in the middle layer of the container. The inner and outer layers are made of virgin HDPE material.

Sustainable IBCs and PE drums with UN approvals

Another plus: the new Schütz IBCs are UN approved and are therefore also suitable for a wide range of dangerous goods applications. The outer layer is completely black, thus avoiding the color variations that often occur when recycled material is used in IBC inner bottles. The transparent display strips allow the user to monitor the fill level in the green-coat IBCs at all times.

Schütz also uses multilayer extrusion for the production of drums, combining maximum safety with a maximum content of recycled plastic. The 220L narrow head F1 drum and S-DS1 open head drums in sizes 30 to 220L are also produced as Green Layer models using the three-layer extrusion-blown process with recycled HDPE in the middle layer. The recycled content here accounts for 40% of the drum body and the entire product range has dangerous goods approvals.

Market launch in Europe with pilot projects

With the European Green Deal and the Action Plan for the Circular Economy, the European Union has defined the objectives and the framework conditions for economic growth that saves resources. Future legal requirements for the use of recycled material in packaging are already met with the new Green Layer products.

Corresponding security of supply can only be guaranteed if there is a sufficient supply of recycled material from the Schütz Ticket Service, Schütz’s global system for the reconditioning and recycling of industrial packaging. Therefore, the market launch of Green Layer products requires close coordination with customers and is initially limited to Europe, where pilot projects have been successfully launched. Future expansion to other regions is possible and planned thanks to Schütz’s global production network with state-of-the-art multilayer extrusion blow molding equipment.